Linking a reflective account to the Code, with an example for each theme

The four themes of the Code, what the link is meant to show, and a short example under each.

The four themes

The Code is the professional standards nurses, midwives and nursing associates must uphold in order to be registered to practise in the UK. It is grouped under four themes:

Prioritise people
Practise effectively
Preserve safety
Promote professionalism and trust

Each written reflective account has to say how what you reflected on relates to the Code. That is the box people leave until last and then fill with a theme name and nothing else.

What the link is meant to show

Naming a theme is not the link. The link is the sentence that says what you did or changed, and which standard that serves.

Weak: this relates to prioritise people. Better: this relates to prioritise people, because I had been giving information at my own pace rather than checking what the person in front of me actually needed to know.

Prioritise people: an example

What happened: a patient with a hearing impairment kept agreeing with me. I realised at the end of the appointment that he had not followed most of it.

What I learnt: agreement is not understanding, and I had been treating a nod as consent.

What changed: I now ask people to tell me back what they are going to do, and I face the person rather than the notes.

How it relates to the Code: prioritise people. Listening to people and responding to their preferences and concerns means checking they have actually understood, not assuming it.

Practise effectively: an example

What happened: I went to a session on fluid balance charts after an audit found ours were often incomplete.

What I learnt: the gaps were at handover, not during the shift, and an incomplete chart was quietly changing clinical decisions.

What changed: I now complete and check the chart before handover rather than after it, and I say out loud at handover what the balance is.

How it relates to the Code: practise effectively. Keeping clear and accurate records is part of practising in line with the best available evidence.

Preserve safety: an example

What happened: I was asked to carry out a procedure I had been shown once, in a busy shift, and I said I was not competent to do it alone.

What I learnt: saying so was uncomfortable and took ten seconds. I had expected it to be a bigger moment than it was.

What changed: I have asked for supervised practice and logged it, rather than waiting to be offered it.

How it relates to the Code: preserve safety. Recognising and working within the limits of my competence, and raising the concern rather than working around it.

Promote professionalism and trust: an example

What happened: a colleague discussed a patient in a corridor where visitors could hear. I said something at the time, briefly and quietly.

What I learnt: it is easier to raise it in the moment than to write it up afterwards, and the conversation was far less awkward than I expected.

What changed: I move those conversations rather than lowering my voice, and I say why.

How it relates to the Code: promote professionalism and trust. Upholding the reputation of the profession includes what patients and families see and hear in passing.

Common mistakes

Naming all four themes for one event. Pick the one that fits, and say why.
Writing the Code link first and the reflection to match it. It reads like it.
Repeating the standard back in its own words instead of saying what you did.
Including detail that identifies a patient or colleague. The NMC tells you not to record any information which may identify another person.

Say it out loud instead

ReflectReady has the NMC reflective account template, including the Code question. You speak about what happened, and your own sentences are sorted under the form’s headings, ready to read, edit and keep. The AI only sorts your words, it never writes them. Free to try.

Sources: NMC: the Code, NMC: written reflective accounts.